Reading any good books? II

[Gwaimir Windgem]

With Rodya, I hardly even thought about him killing the sister at first because it seemed like such a sheer accident, a reflex, or like something he didn't really mean to do and didn't want to do, but did out of fear. If someone just came along and killed her for fun, that guy I would have a problem with.

Certainly, it was something he did out of fear, but he still took the life of an innocent human being, and it was, when you get right down to it, willful; nothing forced his hand. I was very surprised that that didn't come up more; perhaps because he couldn't reconcile it as easily as he could killing the pawnbroker.

Originally Posted by katya

I never really feel like I've gotten everything I can out of a book. But sometimes, after I'd finished reading one, I would read the summaries and the discussion questions on SparkNotes. That helps. I've been wanting to form a book group around here. I'm already in one but I want to make my own too.

If there's a university library near you, it might be interesting to check out some scholarly criticism/interpretation. I find an academic mindset brings out a lot that one might easily miss.

Originally Posted by GM

Oh, and Foucault's Pendulum is great, though it takes a while to get into the swing.

That's what I'm leaning towards; I was given it for my birthday by a friend who says its one of his favourite books, so it should be worth checking out.

I've never heard of Robertson Davies, but he sounds like a fascinating individual. Sounds a bit like Roger Scruton. Anglo-Catholics are always so much more interesting than us poor Romans.

[katya]

Originally Posted by Gwaimir Windgem

Certainly, it was something he did out of fear, but he still took the life of an innocent human being, and it was, when you get right down to it, willful; nothing forced his hand. I was very surprised that that didn't come up more; perhaps because he couldn't reconcile it as easily as he could killing the pawnbroker.

That makes my "heart go out to him", as you said. But other people I've talked to who have read the book could not forgive him for it at all and in fact hated him. I really need to re-read that book but I think I'm going with something non-fiction first since I've just finished The Crystal Cave. Sometimes if I like a fiction book it's hard to pick up a new one right away. Most of the time, actually.